1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable lock; particularly, the present invention relates to a cable lock having a cable capable of forming an adjustable loop to secure an object therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,718 (denoted as '718) of Yang discloses a cable lock composed mainly of a belt and a lock body. One end of the belt passes through one side of the lock body and is received in the other side of the lock body, so that a closed loop can be formed between the belt and the lock body to enclose an article therein. After the length of the closed loop is properly adjusted, the lock body is set to the locked condition and the article is secured.
However, in the cable lock disclosed in the patent '718, the belt can still be adjusted to shorten the length of the closed loop even if the lock body is in the locked condition. In other words, the closed loop can not be fixed in the proper length when the lock body is in the locked condition. As a result, the article secured in the closed loop is possibly damaged by the belt or the lock body while the belt is accidently pulled too tight. Therefore, the adjustability occurring after the cable lock is locked becomes problematic.
FIG. 1A is a schematic view of the use of the conventional cable lock in U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,093. As shown in FIG. 1A, the cable lock includes a lock body 1 and a belt 2. The lock body 1 and the belt 2 can be configured to form a closed loop L to secure an object 3 therein, so as to lock the object 3 to another object such as a table 4. FIG. 1B is a schematic view of the conventional cable lock shown in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B, the lock body 1 includes a hole 5 for the belt 2 to pass therethrough and a slot 6 for receiving a buckle member 7 disposed on one end of the belt 2. A first clamp member 8 with a button disposed on the lock body 1 can be switched to retain the buckle member 7 in the slot 6 or to release the buckle member 7 therefrom. A second clamp member 9 with a button disposed on the lock body 1 can be switched to fix the belt 2 in the hole 5 or to release the belt 2 therefrom. When the first clamp member 8 and the second clamp member 9 are switched to fix the belt 2 in the hole 5 and the buckle member 7 in the slot 6, the closed loop L has a fixed length to eliminate the adjustability occurring as the cable lock is locked.
However, it is inconvenient for a user to operate two separate buttons of the cable lock, causing the increase of operation time. Moreover, the complicated structure of the cable lock may confuse the user and the respective functions of the buttons increase the possibility of maloperation.